Kauai Trip August 2015 Day 7

Secret Beach

Secret beach ..shhhh..

Today is the last full day of our trip and it was raining on/off for the whole day with the approaching hurricane. We both decide to sleep in today before making our way to the secret beach.
It's a hidden beach that's visible from the lighthouse.
The parking lot is at a residential area with an unmarked trail (muddy of course!) leading down to the beach.

Secret beach adventures

The beach is beautiful once we picked our way down the trail. It is also a clothing-optional beach especially towards the west end. Unfortunately today the surf is so high that we can't swim or snorkel. But it was surprisingly sunny for the most part that we were there as we ate our picnic lunch and walked around the beach.

St Regis private beach 
After the secret beach, we made our way to St Regis as Westin's dwellers are allowed to share the beach with the sister property. That beach is part of Hanelei Bay but isolated from the public side by a stream.

St Regis Private Beach at Hanalei Bay

We sat on a beach lounger on the grass and read for a while. While it's nice not to fight sand and mud, the appeal of the island was lost on this little stretch of beach. I truly hope that St Regis dwellers has ventured outside and explored what this island has to offer.
We also rolled into St Regis looking like we rolled around in the mud (courtesy of the secret beach trail). So we got a few suspicious looks from pool servers =)

Kalypso dinner
After giving up on the sunset as the rain is not subsiding, we made our way to Kalypso for dinner.

Dinner with Nachos and Mahi Mahi Pasta

A great Hawaiian-hospitality experience after dinner
After dinner, we made our way back to Westin and saw that the hotel restaurant has a Hawaiian entertainment night. The performers are a couple where the wife is the hula dancer (Primrose) while her husband performs on guitar and ukelele. He sounds so wonderful that we both stopped to listen to his singing, and was invited by Primrose to join her at her table for the whole hour of their performance,

Primrose and Randy's perforamance

They don't have a website yet but this is her performance for a cancer patient that a friend posted on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2lAigJ6_2Y
I learned more about hula after that experience, that the hands are expressing the words of the songs.
I'm impressed by the elegance of the hands, the warmness of her character and her willingness to share her culture with a stranger.

On our way to the airport, we went into a coffee shop that turns out to be an art gallery. It's ran by Candy who has awesome coffee and offered us everything from bathrooms to printer to travel advice. Again, it's another example of how nice the locals are in Kauai.

Posters in Candy's bathroom

Thoughts for this Kauai trip
The island of MUD! The memory of slippery and muddy trails will always stay with me.
Kauai has a lot to offer but you have to earn the experience. There's hidden passages, muddy trails, treacherous surf to uncover great beauty of beaches, ocean and mountains.
But like all Hawaiian islands, you have to plan around the weather. There's always uncertainty in any Hawaiian trip but embrace it and enjoy whatever that you end up doing!
I have a lot of unique experience from this trip that i will always cherish and remember! Mahalo!

Kuaui Trip August 2015 Day 6

Tunnels beach snorkeling

Clear waters at Tunnels Beach

Woke up bright and early to go snorkeling at Tunnels beach. It's supposed to be the best snorkeling spot in north shores but was closed due to high surf and brown water when we first arrived.
http://www.tropicalsnorkeling.com/kauaisnorkeling.html
http://www.tropicalsnorkeling.com/snorkeling-tunnels.html

It's protected by an outer reef but the reef formation cause a current flow that's going from right to left all the time. Research and local advice got us going at the right spot and we didn't get a strong current as the tide is low. It's also early enough that visibility was good for snorkeling.

We saw a turtle and a lot of reef fishes. And the coral is interesting as there's some coral heads.
We saw a few dive boards and Na Pali catamaran dock there for snorkeling by the time we got in, as the surf was too rough to snorkel outside.

Ching Young village
This is a center catered for Hanalei tourism.
http://www.chingyoungvillage.com/

Ching Young village and a few fun touristy t shirts quotes

Puka Dogs and Chickien in a bucket

There's chicken in a bucket which is where we got dinner last night and Puka dogs.



















We came back to Ching Young village after the catamaran trip and had some appetizers and cocktails at Kalypso and Tahiti Nui.

Na Pali Catamaran Tour

Kalalau campsite in Na Pali

Another way, other than hiking, for Na Pali access is via water. We booked a Catamaran tour a couple of weeks back as part of our trip highlight.
http://www.napalicatamaran.com/
We picked this tour company as it start from Hanalei Bay instead of Port Allen. It saves us driving time and boat distance to Na Pali Coast. They also feature smaller catamaran boats that allows us to go into the caves and a faster boat ride.

First off, the weather is awesome! There's some uncertainty with this boat trip as we are between hurricanes in Hawaii. The trip turned out to be sunny and low enough surf for caves exploration.
The trip was not able to do snorkeling as the water was too stirred up for visibility by the afternoon. But we are ok with it since we managed to snorkel Tunnels Beach in the morning.

We started the trip with a pod of 100+ dolphins spotted right off the coast. The Captain did a 90 deg turn and we went dolphin chasing. I have not seen so many dolphins this close, spinning and jumping at the same time. I caught pictures of a couple of them surfacing and swimming near the boat. Now i know why they are called spinner dolphins =)

Spinner dolphins in the ocean

The trip to Na Pali is breath taking. I truly understand why the locals are reluctant to build roads to this piece of land that's pristine and untouched by modern human civilization. It's astounding to think that native Hawaiians used to live in that land, travelling by kayaks and hiking.

We ended the tour at Tunnels beach chasing another pod of dolphins. The captain was planning to do some snorkeling at Tunnels beach but realized quickly it was too murky to see much. Instead he spotted the 2nd school of dolphins and we end up eating our roast beef sandwiches watching the dolphin jumping around the boat. Cool!

Visiting caves in Na Pali

This was a native Hawaiian cemetery

Another breath taking sight

View of Na Pali coast from Pihea trail that we would have seen, had it not been white clouds infested

Kauai Trip August 2015 Day 5

Wailua Falls

We were scheduled for a kayak/hiking trip to Wailua Falls yesterday with Wailua Kayak.
It was cancelled due to rain but we managed to get it rescheduled for today.
We checked in with the tour operator at 845am and got ready for the tour.

It's a tour with a guide that kayaks through the Wailua River for 1 hour, hiked for 30 mins before arriving at the Wailua Falls for a swim and picnic (BYO).They kept the group small and the guide (Dan) is fun.

The kayak up the river is very scenic.

Goofing around during the kayaking

Scenic views on the kayaking trip

Village at the fork of the river, selling shaved ice and kayak rentals =)

Kayak parking lot

We docked the kayaks in one of the forks and crossed the river at waist height water.  As you can see, it's a popular kayak parking lot =) This is definitely a popular tourist spot.

Crossing the river at waist height

Another muddy trail.. Hi Mud! We meet again!

We saw some interesting plants that was used for shampoo called awapuhi. The guide demonstrated squeezing some gel out of the plant and put it on our hair. It smelled just like my hair serum!
http://www.awapuhifarm.com/About_The_Farm.html

We also saw a very cool vine that was big enough to be used as a swing for 2 people!

Traffic regulation in the forest.. Traffic jam!

The guides also work together to put up a board walk as last year they have knee height mud level that make it impossible for tourists to walk through the mud.

Dan is also very good at avoiding the peak timing/other groups at the fall. We managed to get there when it's not crowded which is great!

The falls is really spectacular. We tried to swim as near as we can and it was soon very clear how strong the water is! This is the first time that I have been in a waterfall like this and it's a really good experience.

The waterfall from a higher altittude

The girl sitting at the stone gives a perspective of the size of the waterfall

The waterfall in its full glory

After the tour, we visited Bob and Meg. It is great to see their place with the awesome view and i'm excited to come back and visit them when their 2nd place is ready.

After the visit, we went to an art walk in Kilauea and discovered Kauai nut roasters. They have great and interesting flavours. Who can resist the nuts with some mai tai.







Duane Ono Char Burger
After that, we went to Duane Ono Char Burger for a quick bite. We called ahead as they are famous for 1 hour wait. They have burgers in local Hawaiian style. Taste like Teriyaki but a little more complex. Great crunchiness on the onion ring. Yum!

Kauai Trip August 2015 Day 4

Kalalau trail

The top of the trail looking at Na Pali coast

We hiked the Kalalau trail today. It was closed for the last 2 days as the hurricane brought too much rain for the trail.
We got to the trailhead at 745am and the parking lot is already filling up.
This is a trail that provides Na Pali access via the Kalalau trail on the ocean side via foot.
http://kalalautrail.com/

Na Pali is not accessible by car. The only options are to go via boat, foot or helicopter.

The first 2 miles was hiking on the cliffs side to reach the Kalalau Beach.

View of Kalalau beach from the trail

There's a stream that we have to cross over once to get to the beach. There's a bunch of rocks stacked up on Kalalau beach that is amazing.

Fast flowing Stream

After we got to the beach, we decide to try and hike an extra 2 miles to go to the water falls.
That's when things got a little hairy as we are climbing fast in muddy trails (not surprising) and we stop at the 3rd stream crossing, about 1 mile into the 2 mile hike. We are exhausted from hiking in the high humidity and I lost my footing in one of the streams and got soaked.
Good thing that my cell phone survived the fall!
It's interesting how we started out trying to stay pristine from the mud and water and finally just  gave up.

2nd stream crossing where i fell in

Forest foliage where we rested before turning back

Bamboo bunches in the forest

After the hike, we met Bill's friend Meg and Bob for lunch after a quick shower in the hotel. 

Bob and Meg

They live in Kauai and introduced us to a good Mexican place that definitely hit the spot for the 2 weary hikers. 

Kauai Trip August 2015 Day 3

Waimea Canyon
Today we concentrated on the West shores Waimea Canyon and the south shores.

Waimea Canyon - Grand Canyon of the Pacific

Even though it's only a short distance away from the north shores, Waimea Canyon and Ko'ee statepark is only accessible via the south side. So we woke up early to drive 2 hours around the island to get to the state park at 10am.



We managed to get a good view of the Waimea Canyon before the clouds rolled in.
(note to self : Waimea Canyon is a place that you plan your trip around the weather it offers)

We were unable to get a good view of the Kalalau lookout and Pihea lookout by the time we got to those look out in 30 mins.
We also hike Pihea trail and was not able to see anything except white fluffy clouds. It's a little disappointing but once again, reminded me on how fickle the weather is, on Hawaii Islands.

Pihea trail is our first hiking in Kauai and our first experience with the red soil here. It's every bit as tenacious as everyone said.
https://www.hawaii-aloha.com/blog/2012/08/13/whats-up-with-kauais-red-dirt/

Also, with the rain last week, the trail is muddy!

The muddy trails

The muddy rocks that we climb up

It got a little scary into the trail climbing slippery rocks with muddy shoes. I learned that trees are our friends in that hike. Their roots provided traction and their trunks provided support/leverage through the hike! We had to clean our shoes and clothes in the washing machine after the hike.

We went back to Waimea Canyon on the last day before we flew off.
Woke up at 430am to get there by 715am and caught a glimpse of the Kalalau trail before the fog took over again. It's not easy to catch a glimpse of the trails unless you time the weather really well and of course, cooperation of the weather.
What we saw was breath taking though..

View of the Kalalau trail

The moon was still up when we got there

Saw more of the Canyon view as the fog was less thick this time

Kauai Coffee
After hiking, we high tail our of rainy Waimea Canyon and headed for coffee tasting, rum tasting and mead tasting.

The Kauai coffee is single source brand and offers an impressive free tasting room.

Koloa Rum
The rum tasting is free too, complete with passion fruit liquor mix with rum and rum cake.

The mead tasting is interesting as I never had mead before. It tasted similar to white wine with a nose of honey.
After the long day, we did a home cooked Costco steak dinner at home and call it a day!